Key-fastener.



G.'H. TOWNSEND.

KEY FASTENER.

APPLICATION FILED JAN. 12, 1915.

Patented Aug. 31, 1915.

Fig. 2 is a plan of my device.

UNI'ED GEORGE H. TOWNSEND, OF SEATTLE, WASHINGTON.

KEY-FASTENER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented A11 31, 1915.

Application filed. January 12, 1915. Serial No. 1,738.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, GEORGE E. TOWNSEND, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Seattle, in the county of King and State of Washington, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Key-Fasteners, of which the following is a full, true, and exact specification.

My invention relates to devices for rendering the common form of door lock burglar proof when the key is left in the lock after locking the door, and has for its principal object to provide a simple, cheap and efficient means for preventing the ordinary form of door key from being removed from the lock without first removing the above mentioned means, which is removably attachable to the key and insertable in the key hole of the lock.

A further object is to provide a device of the above described general character which it is impossible to remove from the key hole except from the key side of the lock.

Other objects will appear as my invention is more fully explained in the following specification, illustrated in the accompanying drawings and pointed out in the appended claims.

In the drawings, Figure l is a side elevation of my device shown in an operative position attached to a key which is inserted in a lock which is attached to a fragment of a door. Only the outline of the lock is shown. Fig. 3 is a sectional end elevation on line w-m of Fig. 2.

Referring more particularly to the drawings, numeral 1 designates an ordinary door key having the usual handle 1 and head 1'. The key is shown inserted in the key hole of a lock 2 which is secured to a fragment of a door 3. After locking the door, the key is left so that the head of the key 1 projects in a direction which is at approximately right angles to the direction of said head when first inserted in the key hole, in which position it cannot be withdrawn from the lock 2. My device consists of a wire or similar spring member 4 bent into the shape shown. One end of the wire is secured to a clip 5 which is bent back upon itself in such a way as to form a receptacle for the handle of the key. Clamps 6 are bent down from clip 5 and hold the adjacent parts of the wire member in a rigid position with respect to each other. Clip 5 is perforated as at 7 to receive an upstanding end 8 of wire 4. The end 8 is held in place as shown by the inherent spring in the bowed end 4:- of wire 4, and may be withdrawn from perforation 7 in clip 8 by simply pressing the spring members 4 together with the thumb and finger. Afterv the key has been placed in the lock as previously described, the forward end of my device is inserted in the key hole of the look below the key as shown in Fig. 1. At the same time the upstanding end 8 is depressed by the thumb and finger and the clip 5 is slipped over the handle 1 of the key until the usual hole in the end of the handle of the key is positioned over the upstanding end 8 at which time the hold on spring member 4? is released thus allowing end 8 to spring up through the hole in the end of the key and thereby securely holding the key and my device together. It will be understood that when the key and my device are in the above described positions, the key cannot be turned in either direction and therefore cannot be removed from the lock nor can the lock be unlocked because of the presence of a. part of my device in the said key hole and further because the key and my device are securely held together. It will be further understood that my device cannot be released from the key except from that side of the door upon which it was applied. It will be apparent that my device is particularly adaptable to be carried by a traveler and used with this common form of lock and key to prevent his room being entered during the night, as without some such device as above described it is a simple matter to turn the key and push it from the key hole from the outside of the door.

While I have shown a particular form of embodiment of my invention, I am aware that many minor changes therein will read ily suggest themselves to others skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention, and I therefore desire to avoid being limited to the exact form shown and described, except as defined in the appended claims.

Having described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to protect by Letters Patent, is-

1. In a safety device for locks, the combination of a frame one of whose ends is adapted to fit into the key-hole beneath the key When the same is in position in the lock and its opposite end being formed into a spring handle having a free upstanding extremity, a plate secured to the said frame and near its handle portion, Ways formed upon the said plate and Within Which one end of the key is adapted to slidably fit, the said plate being provided with a perforation through Which the said free extremity of the spring handle is adapted to Work, Whereby the key may be removably secured to the frame, and the key prevented from turning within the lock.

2. In a safety devicefor locks, the combination of a Wire frame having one of its ends formed into parallel extensions Which are adapted to fit into the key-hole beneath the key When the same is in position in the lock, the opposite end of the said frame being formed into a looplike spring handle, an 2 upstanding portion 011 the said handle, a clip and clamps bent downward therefrom, whereby the said parallel extensions areheld rigidly together and in spaced relation to each other, the said clip having its edges 2 turned over to form Ways Within Which the key slides and being provided With an aperture through Which the said upstanding portion slides and by means of Which the key is removably held to the said Wire frame. 0

GEORGE H. TOWVNSEND. l Vitnesses:

' R. D. SMALLEY,

W'INIFRED KNoPH.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

' Washington, D. C. 

